Beijing Pressures South Korea Over U.S. Missile Shield

Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) is a U.S. Army anti-ballistic missile system designed to shoot down ballistic missiles as they are flying downward toward the earth, not when they are going up. (Image: Wikipedia Commons)

As of March 15, no Chinese citizen will be allowed to visit South Korea on any tour group. Considering nearly half of South Korea’s visitors come from Mainland China, this Beijing invoked suspension will hurt the country’s economy just as it intends to.

The tourist suspension is part of the Chinese government’s displeasure over Seoul’s deployment of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system earlier this week.

The first deployment of the defense system came just a day after North Korea fired four ballistic missiles that landed in the Sea of Japan, ramping up tensions in East Asia.

It was the latest in a series of confrontational acts from the rogue state.

“Continued provocative actions by North Korea, to include yesterday’s launch of multiple missiles, only confirm the prudence of our alliance decision last year to deploy THAAD to South Korea,” U.S. Pacific Commander Admiral Harry Harris said in a statement, reported Reuters.

The South Koreans had already agreed to deploy the U.S. delivered missile defense system mid-way through last year.

The U.S. begins deploying an anti-missile system just a day after North Korea’s ballistic missile test. pic.twitter.com/owJUWsAkpH

But Beijing views the U.S. anti-missile system on South Korean soil as “undermining China’s strategic security.”

Outside of the tourist bans, the Chinese government has also banned South Korean music groups from visiting China and blocked South Korean TV shows. It has likewise impinged on how mega-conglomerate Lotte does business on the mainland – i.e., more than 23 Lotte retail outlets there have been shut down.

State-run media in China also encouraged Chinese to boycott South Korean goods. Videos doing the rounds on social media show young Chinese men destroying South Korean goods in a supermarket (see below) and a school singing anti-South Korean songs.

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